Anything But Simple and Dull
by Midnight-Star-Wowie
Summary: Hinata and Shikamaru. Their relationship should be pretty simple, right? Wrong. It's so very complicated...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters.

'**Anything But Simple and Dull'**

**Hinata x Shikamaru**

Summary: For a moment they just stared at one another, dull brown eyes on striking white. Then they looked away from each other and he began to wonder when everything became so complicated.

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Prologue

"What…w-would you like for dinner?"

The question was softly spoken and yet the two people in the small squarish kitchen winced as the words echoed in the heavily silence, each repeat sounding even more hollow and mechanical then the original. The female wrung her ivory hands when the echoing stopped and no answer to her question followed. Her slim shoulders tensed and she opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she swallowed her words when the male suddenly stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled out of the kitchen. Her striking white eyes stared after the broad back and the dark brown spiky head for a moment before they slid to floor as a relieved sigh parted her pink lips. The sharp sound of the phone ringing startled her making her jump in alarm and surprise before she calmed herself enough to reach for the phone.

"Hello," she whispered the word softly and watched through half lidded eyes as her breath made strands of her blue black hair danced lightly around her face.

"Hinata? Is everything all right?"

Hinata's head swam at the sound of the voice causing her to lean against the gray wall to steady her body that threatened to fall. Her hand covered her eyes even as she closed them to block out the suddenly reeling room. Minutes passed and she could hear the person on the other line repeat her name over and over in worry. Suddenly she was angry and she snatched her hand from her eyes so that she could glare at the phone freely. She was tired of the same emotions. The pity, the worry, the disappointment, and even the anger she was tired of them all. The hand gripping the phone brought it slamming down on the receiver nailed to the wall as the rest of the body and eventually the hand also traveled downward until the young woman was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.

There were footsteps in the hall again. Hinata cocked her head to the side as she listened. After a second she realized that he was pacing. She wanted to laugh at the realization instead she stood up and answered the phone that had started ringing again all most as soon as she'd hung up.

"Now." The voice on the phone was angry and she took the time to wonder over the fact that all men hated to be rejected by women. Even women that they didn't care for in the slightest. She wanted to gag but instead she sighed as she pushed back her hair from her face.

"Where?"

She only half listened to him as he muttered the same directions to her so that she could meet him in the same location that she never bothered to memorize how to get to. When they had first started her reason for not learning how to get there had been simple. She hadn't expected for them to continue for so long. Now she didn't even have a reason, neither for continuing on nor putting an end to the arrangement for once and all. The more she thought about it the more she realized that she didn't have a reason for anything.

Once the words were done she hung up and turned around preparing to go upstairs and freshen up before she left. She was surprised to see him standing behind her when she turned, however, and that delayed everything.

"Where are you going?" His words weren't spoken soft like her words earlier had been, but they weren't spoken hard either. They were spoken in a familiar way just like everything else in her life and just like everything else they made her angry because she was tired of familiar. She was tired of the dullness in her life that she'd never wanted.

"Where would you…ah…like me to go?" She had started off strong and angry, but midway she fumbled, stumbled, and stuttered. She could have lied to herself. She could have told herself that she'd ending up stuttering because her life was destined to be familiar, to be dull. That would have been a lie. The reason she stuttered was simple. That dull gleam in his eye had changed…no, it had disappeared. The man before her was determined and that made her nervous enough to stutter.

"I'd like for you to stay."

She fidgeted nervously before she opened her mouth. "Why?" Her confidence returned and she fixed her eyes on his. Her mouth quirked bitterly as she continued, "I thought you wanted something simple and dull, right Shikamaru?"

He sighed and ran his hand through his loose hair. Hinata watched the movement like it was something amazing and in a way it was. He so rarely wore his hair loose.

"I thought I did, but then…" his words trailed off as he looked at her. For a moment they just stared at one another, suddenly not dull brown eyes on striking white. Then they looked away from each other. He began to wonder when everything became so complicated and when exactly he hadn't minded it being that way.

"But then what?"

His eyes snapped back to her. "Then I realized that I was wrong."

"B-bullshit." She'd barely been able to stutter the word before she collapsed on the black and gray tiled floor and began to cry.

He didn't drop down to her level and hug her. He didn't even utter words of concern or comfort. He didn't do anything but sigh, and yet that was enough for her. She lifted her head, sucked back the unshed tears, and told him everything that she had been holding in.

"I never wanted you."

He sighed again. "I know."

"I never wanted to fall in love with such a dull person. I didn't want my love life to be simple and subdued. You were the exact opposite of everything I wanted."

"I know."

" Yet, still you made me fall for you. Then," she paused here to fix him with a glare. "Then, after I had given you everything, you threw it back at me!"

Shikamaru turned away from her, frustrated. "I know."

"Why?!"

He buried his head in his hands before turning back towards her. "It was too much. I couldn't handle how much you loved me, how much you clung to me, and how much you depended on me to make your life bright and happy. It was troublesome."

"You make me sound like a helpless puppy."

"In a lot of ways you were."

Hinata sucked in a deep breath. His words were so much like the words of others. How many times had she heard something along these lines? She closed her eyes briefly before she pressed the conversation onward. She had to hear it to the end. "And her?"

He snorted. "And him?" Hinata was silent and Shikamaru shook his head. " She was what I'd thought I wanted at the time. Someone who was simple, dull, and didn't demand anything from me."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Why aren't you with her now?"

"I realized that I didn't love her."

Hinata didn't say anything. She wasn't strong enough to ask the only question that could follow something like that.

"I love you, Hinata."

"I see…" she murmured. Her eyes were closed and she could feel her head begin to swim again.

"And him?"

She squeezed her eyes shut even further as if doing so would stop everything.

"Hinata?"

"H-he was all ways what I wanted. He was all ways bright, loud, and so open. A love life with him was destined to be amazing, but after a while I found that with you…"

Her voice was suddenly consumed by the sound of explosives hitting the pavement outside their small house. Screams and the ruckus of rubble falling as buildings collapsed instantly surrounded them. Their house began to moan and shake as more explosives hit, as a nearly unbearable heat began to creep up their backs.

Hinata screamed and moved towards Shikamaru. He watched her dumbly, like a passerby who was watching a ghastly scene that had nothing directly to do with him. When she fainted into his arms from the stress he snapped out of his stupor. He moved, he stumbled, he fell, he got up, and he struggled to get them somewhere even remotely safe. He failed. He felt the medium sized rock hit him in the back of his head. It alone probably wasn't enough to kill him, but he could feel his consciousness slipping from him. The darkness gathered before his eyes and he clutched Hinata close to him as her last words to him cycled themselves in his head. '_…but after a while I found that with you…' _His smiled softly to himself as his mind slipped into unconcioussness.

'_But' was all ways a good sign._

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Well, how was it? I know that Hinata and maybe Shikamaru might seem a bit OOC. This prologue is in the future though, so I plan to have the chapters after this go back into the past. Those chapters will have Hinata and Shikamaru growing up into the complicated people that they are here. So before you flame me for OOC characters wait until I have time to show you why they're the way they are.

Also this story is AU. There might be some mentioning of other characters of Naruto, but the only ones that will be making a real appearance are Hinata and Shikamaru, of course, along with Ten Ten and Naruto.

If anyone wants to know what happened to my other story, Lavender Bunnies, I've deleted it. Don't worry though, I plan to put it back up after I've done a few things to the plot.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry to everybody who reads this story for the long wait. I have tons of excuses on why its late if anyone wants to hear them, but since I don't think so... I would just like to say that I plan to update more regularly from now one, hopefully. Also many thanks to the people who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter One

_Two years ago…_

The sun was shining brightly on the Konoha business district. The view of the lovely fluffy white clouds in the deep blue sky was literally breath taking. The soft musical chirps of birds that danced in the air provided beautiful background music to a truly beautiful day. Good mother earth was overwhelmingly generous with her natural gifts today and absolutely no one noticed. Well, no one except for the petite young Japanese woman who stood timidly in the middle of the sidewalk with her pale eyes gazing upward instead of before her.

The young woman was actually quite pretty herself, her looks portraying the traditional image of Japanese beauty. Her blue black hair was extremely long, falling nearly to her thin waist. Only the two front locks of hair were short with the ends of them curving slightly to rest on her rather large bosom. Her face was structured delicately. Her eyes were big, but not disturbingly so, and almond shaped with bright, startlingly really, white-ish lavender orbs. Her eyes were heavily covered by dark thick lashes so much so that whenever she blinked it took a moment for those observing her to get over the suddenness of white changing to black. Plump pink lips were arranged underneath a small doll like nose.

It was perhaps this simplistic image of a pretty young woman gazing up at the sky that drew his attention. Shikamaru Nara had, from the very beginning of his existence, a surprisingly intense love of all things simple. He might have spoken to her then, under that bright morning sun, but before he could manage to raise himself from the park bench he'd been resting on she was on the move. He watched as she reluctantly pushed her way through the rude uncaring crowd. His brown eyes taking note of her mouth moving slowly as she murmured apologies that fell on deaf ears and of the way that her shoulders slumped in relief right before she entered the sleek gray building of the Hyuuga Medical Center.

Once she was gone and his mini episode of voyeurism for the day was over Shikamaru stretched his arms back over his brown spiky head and didn't even bother to try to stifle his yawn. A passing sharp looking businesswoman gave him an irritated look to which Shikamaru gave her a lazy eye roll. She huffed and stormed off much to the amusement of the man. The sudden ringing of his phone quickly rid him of all of his amusement and he groaned as he expertly flicked open the sleek black Razor with the thumb of his right hand.

"Nara speaking."

"Nara?! I thought I told that woman to dial…." Shikamaru sighed as the barking voice of his chief trailed off in confusion. If the old man didn't mean to get in touch with him then he'd rather hang up now. There was absolutely no telling what the chief might decide to stick him with just because he was available at the moment.

"Oh, right, Nara!" The voice barked suddenly with a renewed sense of order and direction. Shikamaru slumped his back against the wooden park bench. He couldn't help but think that he should have hung up the phone sooner as the chief continued talking. "You've been watching the news. The story about that drug ring bust a couple of days ago, did you see it?"

Shikamaru blinked and scratched his head as he thought about exactly what he had seen on the news lately. He vaguely recalled something about drugs and grunted affirmatively to his boss.

"Good. The news didn't exactly portray the situation correctly though. Local police somehow mucked up the whole damn operation and the major ringleader managed to get away. Of course we weren't about to let the media know that relations between us and the locals were so bad that we made a general fucked up mess of each others jobs," the chief growled.

"So why are you telling me this?" Shikamaru asked. As far as he could see the whole thing, while not peachy perfect, seemed to have been handled fairly well and most importantly without his assistance.

"The reason why I'm telling you this is because the bastard is still out there pumping stupid teens and old geezers full of crack and dope. In short the higher ups are tired of being bad mouthed by mothers that can't keep track of their kids and adult children of the elderly who really don't give a shit about their parents. My fucking job is on the line! The top hats want this guy found quick and I'm telling you to do it."

Shikamaru groaned and dragged his hand down his face. He was barely resisting the urge to tell his boss just how close he was to quitting the troublesome job. "I thought I had the month off." He muttered.

"A month off?! Who the hell told you that?"

"You."

"Oh. Right, yes…I remember now. Hmph, well I lied, okay? Get over it, pull your pants up, and then head over here so that I can dump the paper work for the task on you."

"Oh man, isn't there a secretary for that kind of stuff?"

Shikamaru winced when the chief laughed. "You wish! This is the FBI not…"

The chief's voice trailed off again as he began to laugh hysterically. Annoyed and more than a little depressed at the thought of his vacation being cut short Shikamaru snapped his phone shut. He grunted as he stood up from the park bench. With his hands stuffed in his pockets and his brown eyes on the cloud filled sky he began to walk down towards the bureau and the end of his short period of relaxation. He had a feeling that from now on his life was going to be even more troublesome.

While the young FBI agent was walking down the street the young Japanese woman that he had been observing earlier was having problems at the Hyuuga Medical Center employee check in desk.

The pretty woman wrung her ivory hands nervously in front of her as the icy blond receptionist continued to shake her head at the image on the computer screen. "Are you quite sure that you work here, Hyuuga-san?" The receptionist asked dryly.

Hinata Hyuuga, age twenty-three, wanted to run out of the building and cry. How could the woman even ask her that? Wasn't it obvious that she worked here or at least had the right to be here? After all her family name was Hyuuga the same as the company…

Taking a shaky breath she nodded to the receptionist. "H-Hai, I'm…sure. Um, q-quite sure."

The receptionist nodded absently as if she hadn't really expected Hinata to suddenly realize that she didn't actually work there. Instead she, while smiling mechanically at Hinata, silently reached under her desk and jabbed the button for security. Not only did she not have time to deal with some deranged woman she did not get paid well enough to even bother to try. After pressing the bright apple red button two more times, just to make sure the lazy guards knew it was serious, she focused entirely upon the young woman standing nervously before her desk.

"Well, Hyuuga-san. There seems to be a slight error in the system. If you would be kind enough to wait for a moment while I go speak with my supervisor about the problem I'm sure together he and I'll be able to correct the issue as quickly as possible." The woman waited politely until the dark haired beauty gave her a timid smile after which she then turned smartly and in a fluid motion opened the 'employee only' door and walked through it.

Hinata shifted nervously from one foot to the other as she waited for the receptionist to return. After a disapproving image of her father popped into her head she quickly ceased the action. Instead her pale eyes began to roll around the gigantic lobby of the medical center, her father's medical center. She couldn't help but feel insignificant and well unworthy to even stand inside the building. For once her feeling had nothing to do with the fact that the relationship between her father and her was cold at best or nonexistent at worse. The intimidation she felt by simply being inside the building had everything to do with how her own medical center, the one that she had left at the insistence of her father, could never have begun to measure up her father's own center.

She was pretty much near tears at the thought when she was scared out of her mind by a heavy hand landing somewhat painfully on her shoulder. She yelped in surprise as she whirled around and couldn't seem to stop her body from trembling as her watery eyes took in the male security officer before her.

She would have liked to say that the man was ugly, but that would have not only been unfair to him it also would have been a terrible lie. In addition to being able to say that the man was hideous Hinata would also have liked to be able to say that she didn't know the man and that his presence, his the contact of his hand on her shoulder didn't affect her at all. Unfortunately she could say none of the above. Actually, at the moment she couldn't say anything. Instead she whimpered.

Naruto Uzumaki raised one amazingly slender blond eyebrow. This action didn't just fascinate Hinata but also caused her to be unintentionally pulled into gazing deeply into his bright blue eyes. After that her eyes were unable to deter from his eyes even as her mind went over the other gorgeous features that she knew he had. Underneath those exotically foreign eyes were a straight aristocratic nose and a lovely supple mouth that was often stretched into a blindly intense smile. He had a strong chin and spiky blond hair that made Hinata want to run her fingers through it just so that she could see if the strands would still defy gravity afterward. His skin was a sun kissed tan that was arranged over a tall muscular body. Just being in front of Naruto made Hinata feel lightheaded.

"Hinata, are you all right?"

The smooth voice snapped Hinata out of her thoughts and moving quickly out from underneath his hand made her head feel less like a rapidly deflating balloon. "Uh, yes…N-Naruto-kun. Um…ah...I," she stuttered terribly while Naruto nodded gently pressing her on. Gulping she forced herself to let it out in the next breath, "What are you doing here?"

She nearly died from excessive blood loss when he smiled at her. "Your father hired me to be the head of security here after…well, you know." He muttered, his smile gradually fading as he talked.

Right. Hinata knew. A couple of weeks ago her younger sister, Hanabi, had been killed here. The girl had been shadowing her father while he performed his duties around the center partly because their relationship, unlike the one Hinata had with her father, had been very warm and also partly because Hanabi was the heir to the center, had been ever since Hinata had been dismissed. While she had been shadowing their father a disgruntled mental patient had somehow stolen a gun from one of the guards and had begun to fire the thing wildly around before shooting himself. Hanabi had been killed instantly by one of the stray bullets plowing through her skull.

Hinata had been saddened at the news and had cried throughout the days leading up to and after her sister's funeral. She couldn't say that the tears had been out of love, they hadn't been, but she could honestly say that she'd cried for the sister that she'd never have the opportunity to truly know. She'd been surprised though that she wasn't the only one to cry. Her father had also, maybe not publicly but she had seen his red rimmed eyes. Naruto'd cried at the funeral also and it was only yesterday that her father told her the reason why. He'd been engaged to Hanabi.

She didn't even want to begin to think about how much that revelation had hurt her. Both her father and her sister had known about her love for the blond male. Shaking her head sadly she murmured, "Oh, yes I see."

"So, what are you doing here?"

Hinata winced at the statement. Why was it all ways so obvious to everyone that she didn't belong in any building that her father own? That she didn't even belong in the same room, let alone the same family, as him? She offered up a timid smile as she forced her body to relax. "Hai-…F-father told me to come back to Konoha and work here, uh...for him."

She didn't need to say that he was only having her take back her position as heir now because her sister was dead.

"Oh." Naruto muttered. He looked like he was in deep thought for a moment before his head shot up. The new expression on his face made Hinata's heart skip a couple thousand beats. "So you were the one that receptionist beeped us for!"

"Um, nani?"

Naruto laughed at the puzzled look on her face. "The woman working the counter pressed the panic button. She must have done it because of you."

"Oh…. Um, yes…uh, maybe? S-she didn't, um, seem to think that I worked…here." Hinata stuttered nervously. At this point she was desperate to leave, since she obviously was not going to get any work done today even if she was suddenly permitted to enter the actual building. Her thoughts were so muddled now…

"Hinata?"

She jumped slightly. For a moment she had forgotten that Naruto was even there, that she had even been talking to him. It was odd. Especially since the thoughts that had kept her so occupied had been of him. "Ah, y-yes, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Uh, do you want me to see what's wrong with the computer? The system really should have you in the employee section by now."

"Um, no. A-actually, I-I'm…uh, not feeling well…suddenly. I'm leaving, bye!" The last of her words turned high pitched and embarrassingly squeaky as she hurriedly forced them out of her mouth. She didn't even bother to wait for Naruto's reply before she was bustling past him and out of the center.

Once out of the center and walking down the no longer busy streets Hinata could feel her heart beat slowly relaxing. Even as it did, though, she could feel her face grow warm and then hot as tears ran down her cheeks. She was such a disappointment, not only to her father, but to herself also. Hanabi would never have made such a fool of herself in front of any guy that she liked and yet it seemed that making a fool out of herself was all that Hinata was able to do in front of the only guy that she had ever liked. She couldn't even have one conversation with him without having an anxiety attack! Ugh, and for them to be reunited on such embarrassing circumstances… Why did the receptionist have to call security on her? Why had her father made Naruto head of the building's security and then not told her? Why, oh, why was she so unlucky?

Sighing Hinata forced the thoughts from her mind. If she allowed herself to drown in the dismal thoughts there was no telling just how bad of a funk she could throw herself into. A loud grumble gave her just the opportunity to escape her thoughts for a while; the sound alerting her to the fact that she hadn't eaten at all yet today. Nodding to herself she quickly looked around for somewhere quiet that she could eat a light lunch. It didn't take her long to find a place, which was to be expected in the business district. Her pale colored eyes had actually glanced over quite a few restaurants and cafes before she'd decided on the small traditional styled tea shop next to the building of the local federal bureau investigation branch.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Gah! Please don't hate me for the wait. Life's been extremely busy, but from now on it'll definitely be more updates. Yeah, I know empty promises. Stick around though and I'll surely stick to it this time. Also continued thanks for the reviews. It may not seem like it, but it is nice to hear from one's readers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Chapter Two

Shikamaru had never considered himself lucky, in fact if anyone had ever asked him he would have said that he didn't even believe in luck. Upon arriving at the bureau though that changed. As he glanced around the mountain high pile of paper work that was on his desk he really did believe in luck or at least bad luck, his bad luck. With a groan he plopped himself down in his chair and began to shuffle half-heartily through the various reports, witness statements, anonymous tips, and every other type of information that seemed to be in any way connected with the new case he was working.

"Need some help?"

Brown eyes narrowed as the twenty-two year old agent glanced up to observe the female in front of him. His first thought was that she was tall. His second thought was that she was pretty. His third thought was that she practically screamed 'trouble'. He groaned again and ran his hand down his face.

"And you are?"

The African-American woman smiled at him and her black eyes flashed with what looked like excitement. "Kimmi Taylor. I just transferred here and I've been told that I'm your new partner. Nice to meet you," she smirked here and Shikamaru wondered if she was really sincere or just one of those annoying people that tend to be all ways excited and happy about something. God, he hoped not. Her dark brown short curly hair bounced cheerfully as she looked about the small office.

Her action compelled Shikamaru to glance briefly around the room also. His office wasn't much to look at; it was square and sort of neatly compact. Along the wall with the door that opened out into the bureau's main hallway there were filing cabinets, some were fairly new while others were old and clearly dented in several places. With the wall with the cabinets being the west wall the north wall had his desk which was constantly in a highly disastrous state. He never touched the papers in the hazardous piles on top of his desk and only rarely bothered to muster enough courage to shift through his assignment basket. The government didn't pay him enough to go through the horror regularly. The east wall was similar to the west, only it had, thankfully, two large windows in which the sunlight streamed through brightly. This lit up the room brilliantly making the dull grey color carpet and stark white walls seem less annoying and bland. The clean desk and workstation on the south wall also did wonders for the overall look of the office. Vaguely Shikamaru wondered if Kimmi's presence would keep it that way.

An approving look settled on her face as she continued speaking, "So, anyway, I heard that we're on a pretty big case at the moment. Nothing specific though, any solid details?"

Shikamaru stared at her blankly for a while before rummaging around the desk for one of the more extensive reports and then, once he found it he tossed it at her. Kimmi caught it with no problem and proceeded to read it, her hand quickly flipping through the papers as her face sometimes made various expressions at the material. After a minute she glanced up at him with a frown on her face.

"Are you serious?"

"I look serious don't I?"

"Well," she paused and looked thoughtfully at him, "Actually, I think you look bored and possibly slightly slow…in the head."

The muscle beneath Shikamaru's left eyebrow began to tick and before his eyebrow began to twitch he massaged his temples. Really, where exactly had they found her?

"Relax! I'm kidding! But seriously this case is bullshit, child's play. Normally a case like this wouldn't even require the use of federal agents. So my point is, what does this guy really do for a living to land him a spot on America's most wanted list?" Kimmi questioned as she used the lengthy but crap filled report to fan herself. The office wasn't bad but it was hot.

Shikamaru stopped rubbing his temples and instead stood up out of his chair. Maybe Kimmi wasn't as bad as he first thought. True she had the sort of personality that typically got on his nerves, but she seemed to be intelligent at least. He had also been wondering about the case since he'd begun making his way to the bureau. She was absolutely right. Drug dealing, although a federal crime, was rarely actually investigated by the FBI. No, this guy, a man named Leonard Reynolds, was someone who was dangerous to the nation. But how? What exactly did he, as Kimmi had said, 'do for a living'?

"You know did the chief even say anything about Konoha's own police department handling the case? You know, the narcotics section or whatever?" Kimmi asked. At Shikamaru's head shake she continued on with her thoughts. "Isn't that odd that this case went straight to the FBI. I mean, really, how large must this," she paused to look at the report. "How large must this…Leonard's operation be? All over the east coast?"

"I haven't got any idea, Taylor-san."

"Whoa. Taylor-san? That's so cute!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Cute?"

Kimmi nodded and smiled at him. "The Japanese language is the cutest with all of it's aww-sounding little title things at the end of people's names."

"Right." He muttered and probably would have gone on to call her an idiot if the chief hadn't suddenly just entered his…their office.

Rao Im, the chief, glared at them with beady black eyes. Kimmi shifted uncomfortably and the only reason that Shikamaru didn't do the same was because he couldn't be bothered to move out of the nice groove his body had settled in on his chair. Im wasn't impressed with either of them and grunted at them to stand up straight. Shikamaru sighed as he did so.

"What is it now?" He asked.

"Nara?! Are you still sulking about your lost vacation time? Shape up!" Im bellowed about an inch from Shikamaru's face. Shikamaru took a step back in an attempt to recover lost space while rolling his eyes in answer to Kimmi's questioning glance. "Well, Nara?!"

"I'm over it."

"Good. Taylor, how are you settling in?"

"Excellently, sir. Um, but about the case…" Kimmi trailed off uncertainly as the chief suddenly whirled from Shikamaru to thrust himself into her personal space.

"What was that?!" Im shouted straight into her face. Shikamaru winced for her.

"N-nothing, sir!" Kimmi replied.

"That's what I thought! Anyway, I was just checking on you two. Oh, and to tell you two that you now have another case to work on in addition to the other one. Here, you're going to need this." Im declared as he shoved an envelope into Shikamaru's hands. "Leave the building before you open that! Later, Nara! Later, Taylor!"

Shikamaru and Kimmi watched silently as the chief turned and waltzed out of their office. Wordlessly Shikamaru handed his partner a baby swipe from the box on his desk. The chief had a habit of spitting his words.

"What a frightening little man. Excitable too." Kimmi muttered as she wiped her face. Her partner didn't say anything, but she could see him nod out of the corner of her eye. "What's up with the envelope?"

"How would I know?" Shikamaru asked as he eyed the thing. It didn't feel that heavy.

Kimmi rolled her eyes. "Right. Let's go find out."

Shikamaru didn't say anything as they left their office and then exited the bureau all together. Once they were out of the bureau Shikamaru opened the new envelope and with Kimmi peeking over his shoulder began to shift through all of the basic information and papers dealing with their new case. There was a written copy of the phone tip, the list of terrorist groups, a blue print for the Hokage Tower, map of the area around the tower, list of upcoming political events at the tower, and a set of high level security passes. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at those. The Hokage Tower was basically a foreign embassy, high officials of the Japanese government stayed there and conducted work there also. Supposedly, the work there was top secret government stuff, stuff which the tower had made clear was not to ever leak out. Even the American government had to have strict permission for entering and investigating anything within. High level passes, which guaranteed open access to everything, were rarely given out. Wordlessly he handed one to Kimmi.

"Wow," Kimmi's surprise was evident as she eyed the security pass. "Just what is our mission?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Let's wait until we're not on a busy street to read the brief."

"Good point, but I really want to know now and plus it's not like we can just go back to the bureau to read it. The chief had to have a reason to make us leave the place to even open it in the first place." Kimmi jabbered excitedly. It was clear that this was probably the young agent's first 'big' assignment. Shikamaru shuddered at the thought of having to keep her in line as they worked the case.

"Calm down. We'll read the thing in there."

Kimmi frowned as she eyed the authentic looking teashop. "I don't like tea." Her partner rolled his eyes and began to head for the teashop anyway. "You know there are tons of restaurants here! You could try to work with me…" She muttered disappointedly as she followed Shikamaru into the place.

The Happy Sun Teashop was a bright and happy looking place. The walls were a bright yellow and the tiles on the floor were a pretty grass green. The gold metal tables and chairs with the curled ends to the legs were clean. The table arrangement allowed for an easy walk between tables and an assurance that the next table over wouldn't hear a private conversation. All in all it wasn't a bad place, but that didn't keep Kimmi from wincing when she entered. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"Um, I'll go order. What do you want?" She asked, completely ignoring his silent question.

"Che, red tea, nothing added," he answered.

Kimmi watched him stalk off towards one of the tables in front of one of the large windows the shop had in the front. Sighing she turned towards the service counter to wait in line to place their order.

If Hinata had been an impatient person she would have left the teashop after the first five minutes spent waiting for the two people in front of her to finish rattling off what they, and apparently their whole office floor, wanted for an afternoon snack. As it was she'd just waited calmly while the people behind her grew irritated and left. By now she'd grown used to the annoyed mutterings, the whispered threats, and finally the indignant huffing that signaled the storming off, but this was new. The young woman who had just recently joined the line had waited only two minutes before she'd walked past Hinata and pushed the two in front of her to the side.

"H-hey!" The customers who'd been ordering everything on the menu shouted upset and offended.

A curly brown head turned towards the office working pair so that brown eyes could glare at them. "Beat it." The young woman's expression was so fierce that the two quickly turned and left. Hinata continued to watch in muted surprise as the woman turned back around to greet the cashier with a smile. "Sorry about that, but I'm in a hurry. Give me a red tea, for the love of God please don't put anything in it, and do you have coffee?"

"No."

The woman sighed. "Right, of course not. Let me just have water then. No lemon is fine."

"Your total is five dollars and sixty-two cents."

"Yeah, yeah, here. Thanks." The woman muttered as she walked off with her order.

"Next. Please!"

"Ah, yes," Hinata scuttled towards the counter. Her eyes glancing at the shiny moss green menus behind the cashier before whispering the cheapest items off the menu. When the young teen in front of her didn't immediately move Hinata began to push her index fingers together nervously.

"What was that?" the cashier asked, tilting her blonde head toward Hinata to hear better.

Hinata opened her mouth and tried again. "I'd like a milk tea and a buttermilk biscuit, please."

"Okay, no problem. Your total is six dollars and ten cents. Here's your food." The cashier's voice was bright and happy sounding as she took Hinata's money and gave her food.

"Thank you."

After thanking the cashier and grabbing her items Hinata bit her lip as she surveyed the teashop, trying to decide on the best place to sit. There were plenty of free tables since it was only the early afternoon and lunch hadn't quite rolled around yet. Really it didn't matter which table she decided on, which is what she told herself, but she found herself choosing the table next to the one that the young woman from the line earlier was occupying.

Shikamaru Nara hadn't expect for the Japanese beauty that he'd been admiring earlier to reappear in the teashop that he'd chosen for the debriefing of his and his recently acquired partner's newest case. Then again he _also_ hadn't expected for him to any have a partner or to be working any cases on his time off. Life, as he knew, could be annoyingly frustrating. His partner could attest to that, she hadn't stopped complaining about the 'flipping retards holding up the line' since she'd arrived at the table with their drinks. Shikamaru could have spent hours peacefully ignoring her and alternating between staring at the clouds through the shop's window and the back of the beauty's shiny black head, but they had a job to do. It would be far too troublesome to look for another job right now, especially it if he lost it for stupid reasons.

"Kimmi, shut up." Shikamaru's voice was a monotone drawl as he pushed aside his red tea and began to spend out the envelope's contents on the gold metallic table. Kimmi frowned at him but didn't say anything. Instead she picked up the case briefing and began to read it silently. After a minute Shikamaru cleared his throat causing her to look up. "What does it say?"

Kimmi shrugged and tossed the piece of paper on the table. "Nothing much actually. Supposedly the government thinks that there might be a threat coming from the tower or that there is a threat to the tower. All of the information given is so elusive. Nothing is confirmed or denied. From what I can see there might not even be a threat at all. Just look at that list of terrorist! They practically listed everyone know to man. This is bullshit."

Shikamaru quirked a brow. "Is that the only phrase you know?"

Kimmi stuck her tongue out at him while giving him the finger.

"Anyway, it's not bullshit. The tower wouldn't give high level passes out for an imaginary threat. The passes also tell me that it's a threat against the tower," Shikamaru concluded.

"You're right on both accounts I guess. Where do we start?"

Shikamaru looked at the list of events at the tower. The first event was a dinner service for the top Japanese owned companies in America, it was supposed to honor Hyuuga Medical Center.

"We have one week before the first event. We should go over there tomorrow and question people."

Kimmi tilted her head to the side. "You mean see what's going on? Ask why they think they're the target for some terrorist group?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"Okay, well. What about the other case we have? Our little drug dealer?"

"He can wait."

Kimmi rolled her eyes as she stood up from the table. "Obviously."

They were both beginning to walk out of the place when Kimmi stopped Shikamaru at the door.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to say 'hi'?" She asked.

He glanced away from her towards the woman sitting at the table that was next to the one that they'd just been at. The early afternoon sun was shining brightly around her, creating a sort of halo effect. She really was pretty, but that meant that she was bound to be troublesome. With a grunt he turned back around and walked out of the shop.

"Lazy," Kimmi sighed as she followed.


End file.
